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NAAM IS AMRIT
By Sri Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath



Of all the names of Sri Vishnu, the Jagannatha Naam is the greatest. There is no greater Naam than Jagannatha — this is sung in all the three worlds.

Q. Is there any discrimination between various names so that one is better, other is less important and another is the best of all?
A. If a person is the worshipper of a particular God, then the Name of the God is to him better than those of others. If one hears the Naam of one’s ‘Ishta-Devata’ his heart and mind are automatically attracted towards Him.

Q. What is the reason?

A. It means that the Bhakta has not yet been able to love his ‘Ishta-Devata’ completely. If one loves one’s ‘Ishta-Devata’ without any distraction, his ‘Ishta-Devata’s name is bound to fascinate him. In this world every woman should be looked upon as ‘mother’; but the mother who carries you in her womb is but one. One cannot behave with other women the same way one does with one’s mother.

Q. Are Rama and Krishna two different Names?

A.To a ‘Bhakta’ of Rama, the Naam ‘Rama’ is principal and the ‘Naam’ 'Krishna' is secondary. He thinks that it was his Rama who, taking the form of Krishna, did ‘Krishna-Leela’. In this way Ram Naam becomes the main object of his attraction. To a Krishna-Bhakta, it is just the opposite.

Q. Rama, Krishna, Hari are but one; yet do they not appear slightly different from each other?

That happens. But those who are the worshippers of the Maha-Mantra, to them there is no distinction as they get all the three names from the Guru. They accept as equal all the three names in the Maha-mantra —

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

But those who have got the direct ‘Darshan’ of God, whose ‘Mantra’ has become one with the body of their ‘Ishta-Devata’, in whose heart-string Omkar-song is sounding day and night, though to them there is no feeling of a ‘Naam’ being principal or secondary, yet the ‘Naam’, with the help of which they succeeded in having the ‘Darshan’ of God, becomes their main external support i.e., the 'murti' & 'Naam' given by their ‘Ishta’. Sadhaka Ramprasada, Bama Khepa, Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa constantly sang, ‘Ma Ma’ (Mother). Ramananda Swami, Kabir, Rai Das and Tulsi Das took the Naam of Ram. My ‘Thakur’ (Param Gurudeva) lost himself in ‘Krishna-Naam’.

All the Tantras say that you worship the secret Jagannatha. Sing constantly the most secret Naam of Jagannatha. If a person untiringly and constantly sings Jagannatha’s Naam, he is completely relieved of all his sins and after tearing asunder the bonds of this ‘Samsara’, he attains the ‘Paramatma’ (the Supreme Being).

One cannot acquire the same merit by doing Ganga-Snan (bath) or by going to Kashi as one does by singing Jagannatha’s Naam. If a person, constantly and with devotion sings Jagannatha’s Naam, he attains ‘Kaivalya Mukti’.

Q. What is ‘Kaivalya Mukti’?

When a mortal completely becomes one with Brahma, he attains Mukti, freed from the cycle of birth and death. The Sadhus call this Mukti as ‘Nirvana’. Kaivalya is another name of Nirvana.

The feeling of being one with one’s material body is called Avidya. The body is the bond of the ‘Atma’. The destruction of this bond created by Avidya is called Moksha.

Even if a person deridingly utters the Name of Jagannatha once, he is relieved of all sins collected through killing of a Brahmin, drinking, stealing gold, adultery with Guru’s wife etc. — there is no doubt about it. Oh Brahmin, even if a person is devoid of all morals and he is in agony due to physical and mental pains and sorrows, he attains that everlasting ‘Param Brahma’ if he utters the name of Jagannatha.

If they once utter your Jagannatha Naam, then hundreds of their offences excuse them. (i.e., they are relieved from the sin of hundreds of offences); there is no doubt about it.

Sri Bhagwan Krishna told Rudra-Deva — ‘There is no doubt that I forgive hundreds of offences by those persons who sing my Name Jagannatha’.

Q. I find that the power of Jagannatha’s Naam is as big as the size of his temple.

A. Raja Indradyumna told Jagannatha Deva: —

Even if a mortal sings your Naam in an ordinary way, he is relieved from the three fold troubles caused by spiritual, supernatural and natural causes and all his grave sins are completely destroyed. So, what doubt can exist in the fact that the mortals will gain ‘Mukti’ by singing your Naam with ‘Bhakti’. And not only the Naam but if they sing in praise of your Dhama (abode), the result will be the same i.e., Mukti.

In the fourteen worlds, in hills and dales, in inhabited places and uninhabited ones there is no greater Kshetra (place of pilgrimage) than Purushottam Dhama (Jagannatha Puri). My beloved Thakur (Param Guru Deva) has also said —Oh Lords of Gods, please remove soon the uselessness (want of substance) of this ‘Sansara’. Oh Lord of the Yadus, please stop the spread of sin and vice. Oh, the Protector of the poor and the downtrodden, you are staying in a special abode, immersed in Samadhi, please appear before my eyes and thus may I be blessed.

Jai Jagannatha, Jai Jagannatha.